A Spanish woman who spent months fighting her father for the right to euthanasia after being sexually assaulted and becoming paraplegic has finally ended her life on her own terms by means of an assisted death.
Noelia Castillo, 25, had struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager and tried to kill herself in October 2022 after being sexually assaulted. The attempt left her in constant pain and using a wheelchair. Eighteen months later, she used Spain’s euthanasia law, which was introduced in 2021, to secure permission to end her life.
But her attempts to obtain euthanasia had been opposed by her father and by Christian Lawyers, an ultra‑conservative advocacy group that had supported him. They had argued that Castillo’s psychiatric condition means she cannot make a properly informed decision about ending her life.
Earlier this month, after almost two years of legal challenges through regional and national Spanish courts, the European court of human rights rejected Castillo’s father’s request for euthanasia to be put on hold.
On Thursday evening Castillo’s wish for an assisted death was granted and she died in a medical facility in the town of Sant Pere de Ribes in Barcelona province.
Her plight had caught the public imagination and refocused attention on the issue of euthanasia.
According to the most recent figures from Spain’s health ministry, 1,123 people had an assisted death between June 2021 – when the euthanasia law came into effect – and the end of 2024.
Under the law, anyone of legal age who has a medically certified “serious and incurable illness or a serious, chronic, and disabling condition” can apply for euthanasia if they are “capable and conscious” when they apply.
The law defines a serious and incurable illness as one that “causes constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering without the possibility of relief that the person considers tolerable, with a limited life expectancy, in a context of progressive frailty”.
Candidates must submit two requests in writing and undergo consultations with medical professionals not previously involved in the case before their application is signed off by a regional committee of experts.
The law allows two methods of assisted dying: the direct administration of a fatal substance by an authorised health worker, or the prescription or supply of such a substance to patients wishing to end their lives themselves.
In a TV interview recorded days before her death, Castillo, who had been in psychiatric treatment since she was 13 and who had made repeated attempts to kill herself, defended her decision, saying it was her choice.
“I just want to go peacefully now and to stop suffering,” she told Antena 3. “That’s all … there’s nothing I want to do. I don’t want to go out, I don’t want to eat, I don’t want to do anything.
“I’ve always felt alone because I’ve never felt understood … before I applied for euthanasia, my world was a very dark place and I foresaw a very dark end. I had no aims, no goals, nothing – and I still don’t.”
Castillo said she was tired of people talking about her life when they knew nothing about it.
“They’ve said I just lie in bed,” she added. “But I get up out of bed and I shower myself. And I put my makeup on by myself … I’ve managed to do it at last.
“Let’s see if I can rest now because I can’t go on. I can’t go on with this family, I can’t go on with the pain and I can’t go on with all the stuff that’s tormenting my mind.”
Castillo said she had made the decision for herself and she did not want to be seen as “an example to anyone”.
She added: “I don’t want anyone to follow in my footsteps. I don’t want there to be people asking how the process works because they want euthanasia and they want to know how it’s done.
“I don’t want them to think about that. I just feel that my life is my life and that I’m not an example to anyone, be it for good or for ill. It’s just my life and that’s all there is to it.”
Christian Lawyers held a press conference outside the hospital where Castillo died on Thursday night to restate its opposition to the euthanasia law and to offer prayers for her soul and for her family.
“Noelia’s case had moved the entire world,” it said in a statement on social media. “The euthanasia law must be abolished. Every life should be defended, not abandoned.”
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In Spain, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 900 525 100. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email [email protected] or [email protected]
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